MooNKY] NOTKS AND PARALLELS 503 



thrniit;hoiit tlu' I'oiiiitrv, ami a saorifioe was made in each one of them of the first 

 meat Ijilled after^varll^' by those to wliom they respectively lielonge<l." — Payne MS, 

 quoted in Squier, Serpent Symbol, pp. 11()-118. 



Similar ceremonies were common to many tribes, particularly the southern tribes 

 and the Pueblos, in connection with the annual kindliuf; of the sacred new fire. See 

 Adair, History of the .\meric.>u Indians; Hawkins, Sketcli of the Creek Country, 

 quoted by Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; Harti-aui, Travels; Fewkes, The New- 

 lire Ceremony at Walpi, in Anierican Anthro|>ologist for January, 1900; Squier, 

 Serpent Symbol, (ioing beyond our own boundaries it may be said l)riefly that fire 

 worshi]) was probably as ancient as ritual it.self ami well-nigh as universal. 



Wnixlni box — The sacred ark of the Cherokee i.s described by Adair (History of 

 the American Indians, pp. 161-1(52), and its capture by the Delawares is mentioned by 

 AVashburn (Ri^miniscences, pp. 191, 221), w-ho states that to its lass the old priests 

 of the tribe ascribed the later degeneracy of their people. They refuserl to tell him 

 the contents of the ark. On this subject Adair says: 



" A gentleman who was at the Ohio in the year 1756 a.ssured me he saw a stranger 

 there very importunate to view the inside of the Cheerake ark, which was covered 

 with a drest deerskin and placed on a couple of short blocks. An Indian centinel 

 watched it, armed with a hiccory bow and brass-pointeil Ijarbed arrows; and he was 

 faithful to his trust, for finding the stranger oTatruding to pollute the supposed sacred 

 vehicle, he drew an arrow to the head, and would have shot him through the body 

 had he not suddenly withdrawn. The interpreter, when asked by the gentleman 

 w'hat it contained, told him there was nothing in it but a bundle of conjuring traps. 

 This shews what conjurers our common interpreters are, and how much the learned 

 world have really profited by their informations. " 



Such tribal palladiums or "medicines," upon which the existence and prosperity 

 of the tribe are supposed to depend, are still preserved among the plains Indians, the 

 sacred receptacle in each case being confided to the keeping of a priest appointed for 

 the purpose, who alone is privileged to undo the wrappings or expose the contents. 

 Among these tribal "medicines" may be mentioned the sacred arrows of the Chey- 

 enne, the "fiat pipe" of the Arapaho, the great shell of the Omaha, and the taime 

 image of tlie Kiowa (see reference in the author's Ghost-dance Religion and Calen- 

 dar History of the Kiowa Indians). 



While pi'cice pipe — This statement concerning the ancient seven-stem peace pipe 

 carved from white stone is given on the authority of Swiunner, who said that the 

 stone was procured from a quarry near the present town of Knoxville, Tennessee. 

 A certain district of western Xorth Carolina has recently acquired an imenviable 

 reputation for the manufacture of spurious "Indian pipes," ostensibly taken from 

 the mounds, curved from soapstone and having from three to half a dozen stem- 

 holes encircling the bowl. 



TurUedrum — This statement is on the authority of Wafford, who had talked with 

 men who claimed to have known those who had se&n the drum. He was not posi- 

 tive as to the town, but thought it was Keowee. It is lielieved that the drum was 

 hidden by the Indians, in anticijjation of their speedy return, when the country was 

 inva<led by Williamson in 177(1, but as the country was never recovered by tlie 

 Cherokee the tlrum was lost. 



112-115. Short m-.\i0R0fs .stories (pp. 397, 899): These short stories are fairly 

 representative of Cherokee hnmcir. Kach was heard repeatedly from several 

 informants, both east and west. 



IKi. TnE STAR i-EATHERS (p. 399): Tliis story was obtained from .Tr)lin .\x, with 

 additional details from Chief Smith and others, to whom it was eciually familiar. It 

 is tiildas an a<'tual happening in the early days, before the Indian ha<l nuich accpiaint- 

 ancewith the whiles, and is thoroughly characteristic of the methods of medicine-men. 



